


two feet in front of me

by maraudeer



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alexei "Tater" Mashkov/Kent "Parse" Parson - Freeform, Check Please - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining, Sort Of, The Bachelor AU, lardo/tater
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2019-10-22 16:04:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17665718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maraudeer/pseuds/maraudeer
Summary: “Tater?” Alexei raised his eyebrows as he shook Kent’s hand. “You are a hockey fan?”“Oh,” Kent felt his face go red. He hadn’t actually known about the nickname until he’d stalked his Instagram, but he wasn’t about to explain all that. “Yeah, a bit. Sorry. I’ll call you Alexei from now on.”Alexei clapped him on the shoulder, and Kent thought absently that the women would love him—he was a touchy kind of guy, apparently. “No, this is good. A fan. You can keep calling me Tater.”...Or, The Bachelor au no one asked for except me





	1. season premier

Kent was nervous. He usually didn’t get nervous when he met a new bachelor, but this was Alexei Mashkov, retired NHL player. He wanted to sit the guy down and ask him all about playing in the league. This guy knew hockey legends like Wayne Gretzky and Bad Bob for crying out loud. It was hard not to be at least a little nervous. 

“And Alexei,” A producer with a headset said. “This is Kent. You’ll remember him from previous seasons.”

It also didn’t help that Alexei was stupidly tall and big. He had this sort of goofy, dark brown hair. The floppiness of it should have been dorky, but Kent mostly just found it endearing. 

“Hi, Tater,” Kent waved awkwardly and then stuck out his hand. “It’s great to meet you.”

“Tater?” Alexei raised his eyebrows as he shook Kent’s hand. “You are a hockey fan?”

“Oh,” Kent felt his face go red. He hadn’t actually known about the nickname until he’d stalked his Instagram, but he wasn’t about to explain all that. “Yeah, a bit. Sorry. I’ll call you Alexei from now on.”

Alexei clapped him on the shoulder, and Kent thought absently that the women would love him—he was a touchy kind of guy, apparently. “No, this is good. A fan. You can keep calling me Tater.”

“Alexei, Kent is the host of the show. Think of him as part wingman, part moderator.” 

“I will be needing one,” Alexei said in his deep, rumbly accent. “This many women will be a lot I think.”

The producer laughed and looked at Kent with a face that said ‘don’t you just love him?’

“I’m sure you’ll be just fine.”

“Yeah,” Kent said. “And if not I can always take a few off your hands.”

He winked at Alexei, and Alexei laughed. “So your reputation is true? The camera likes to make you out as a ladies man.”

Kent felt himself blush again. If he wasn’t a hockey player. If he just wasn’t a hockey player this wouldn’t be happening.

“Yeah, something like that.”

The truth was Kent wasn’t a ladies man. Not even close. He thought his last kiss with a girl was probably when he was fifteen years old. Since then it was only men and even that had been infrequent over the years what with The Bachelor giving him a mild amount of fame and his slight fear of being out to the whole world. It wasn’t like no one knew. His friends and family did. It just felt safer to keep up the, for lack of a better word, bachelor reputation, especially since he didn’t see the point of being out if he didn’t have a boyfriend. Not that he was going to tell Alexei any of this. He had no way of knowing if Alexei was homophobic, and even if he wasn’t Kent thought the whole gay backstory was probably a bit of an overshare.

“Well, how about you leave them to me for the time being,” Alexei said.

“I think that can be worked out,” Kent said, and Alexei gave him the biggest grin.

And, fuck, why did he have to be a hockey player?  
...  
Alexei was nervous. Talking to women didn’t usually make him nervous, but thirty of them right after another? Yeah, that was a little nerve wracking.

The first limo pulled up into the driveway of the bachelor mansion. Alexei tugged at his suit jacket’s sleeves and adjusted the knot in his tie as the first woman stepped out of the car. She was tall and blonde, and she grinned at him as she glided over to him in heels. 

He glanced at the production staff and Kent who stood off to the side. No one from the production staff gave any indication that they noticed, too distracted by the woman crossing over to him, but Kent gave him a small smile and thumbs up. Alexei reminded himself to breathe.

“Hi,” he said to the woman.

She grinned and hugged him. “Hi,” she drawled, and Alexei thought she might have a southern accent. “It’s so good to meet you.”

“We both have accents,” he said and then felt stupid for saying it. 

Luckily, the woman smiled and winked. “I love a good accent. I’m Caroline.”

“Pretty name,” he said shyly. 

Caroline left and another woman stepped out of the limo. Kent still stood off to the side with his hands in his pockets. He nodded his head in the direction of Caroline and raised his eyebrows. Alexei shrugged his shoulders.

The next woman was small with black hair and brown eyes. “Sup,” she said as she leaned up to hug him. “I’m Larissa, but you can call me Lardo.”

Alexei smiled, “You can call me Tater.”

“Sweet hockey nickname.”

“Thanks. Most people just laugh. Is yours a hockey nickname?”

“Yeah, I managed a NCAA team back in college.”

Alexei grinned, “Already something we have in common.”

Lardo walked away shortly after and again Alexei caught eyes with Kent. He nodded towards Lardo and gave a big thumbs up. Kent smile and nodded his head. 

He met all thirty women and between each one he signaled to Kent what his first impression of them was. Most of them were good impressions and all of them were beautiful. Alexei was beginning to feel excited about this whole thing. The next few weeks would be really fun, and maybe by the end of it he would find himself a wife. Someone who appreciated hockey and laughed at his stupid jokes and made him smile too.

The camera team moved off to film the women’s first reactions of each other and him, and Alexei crossed over to where Kent stood leaned against a wall. He pushed off of it as Alexei approached.

“How did it go?”

Alexei ran a hand through his hair. “Not bad. Don’t think I embarrass myself too much.”

“You did great. Some guys get all sweaty and stuttery. It’s disgusting”

“It’s a good thing I don’t take off my jacket then,” Alexei gestured to his sports jacket. “Sweating like crazy underneath.”

Kent laughed, and Alexei smiled. It was a nice laugh, light and true.


	2. interviews

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was technically supposed to be longer, but I’m keeping what the second half of this chapter was going to be for the next time. Idk y’all will have to tell me if this chapter was interesting or if you’d prefer longer chapters.

“Alexei, I know it’s a little weird, but you need to open up to the camera. It’s the only way we’re going to get any good footage.”

It was a couple days later. Alexei was supposed to go on his first one-on-one date, but first he needed to do interviews with the camera man. The problem was that Alexei was terrible at talking to the camera. It was never an issue when he played for the NHL, but that was different. That was hockey. Feelings were different. How was he supposed to talk to just anyone?

“I’m sorry,” he said.

The producer looked at him and sighed. “Look, let’s take a five minute break and try again...Maybe then we’ll get more than two words out of you,” he added under his breath.

Alexei closed his eyes, briefly. He thought this would be more fun.

“Hey.”

He opened his eyes and saw Kent Parson standing in front of him. He’d been on set all morning, chatting with the women and charming the production staff, but this was the first time he’d spoken directly to Alexei since that first night. He was dressed in a blue t-shirt and a snapback facing backwards. The blue of his shirt brought out the color of his eyes. 

“Hi.”

“James is a dick.”

Alexei shrugged, “Just doing his job.”

“No I’m doing my job,” Kent said, pulling up a stool and sitting down. “He’s just being a dick.”

Alexei fought off a smile, “Is not easy. Talking about feelings to camera.”

“Well, you’ve barely gotten to talk to the women. You can’t really have feeling for anyone yet.”

Alexei glanced over at James, the producer. He and a few other people with headsets were glaring over at them. “Yes, but he wants me to have feelings.”

Kent frowned for a moment. “Well, let’s figure out if you have any then. What were your first impressions?”

Alexei shrugged. “They were all nice and all very beautiful.”

Kent laughed. “Yeah, the producer have a knack for only picking stunning women.”

“Is a little intimidating. Only one of me. Thirty of them.”

Kent shrugged, “Yeah, but they already all adore you.”

Alexei blushed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually blushed. “Don’t understand why. Is just me. Just Alexei.”

The producers made their way over to Kent and Alexei. Alexei watched James tap the shoulder of one of the camera men. He thought he realized what he was doing, but he focused back on Kent because otherwise he would get nervous again. 

“Dude. You’re an NHL player, you’re huge, you’ve got an accent, and you’re nice,” Kent shrugged. “I feel like it’s pretty obvious.”

Alexei smiled down at his feet. “Retired NHL player.”

“Like that matters.”

“Would like someone who likes hockey, though.”

“Yeah?” Kent raised his eyebrows. “Did any of them mention hockey to you when you met them?”

Kent didn’t look over at the camera once, but Alexei knew he knew it was rolling by the way his shoulders had straightened. Otherwise, everything about him was easy and relaxed. Alexei glanced at the camera man again.

“Hey,” Kent said quietly. “It’s okay. Just talk to me. Forget about them. Just talk to me about hockey.”

Right. Because talking about hockey was easy. Talking to Kent, apparently, was sort of easy too.

“A couple did,” Alexei said. “There was this one girl. Lardo? It’s a hockey nickname.”

Kent looked a little surprised. “She plays hockey? That’s awesome.”

Alexei smiled. “Don’t think she play. Just manage college team.”

“That’s so cool,” Kent looked impressed. “I played hockey when I was younger.”

“You did?” Alexei couldn’t keep the skepticism out of his voice. 

Kent rolled his eyes. “Haha. Yes, I get it I’m smaller than the average hockey player I’ve heard it all before.”

“Didn’t say that,” but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

“Hey I was good okay. I was fast.”

Alexei put his hands up in surrender. “I believe you. I believe you.”

Kent gave him a side eye. “You’re just appeasing me.”

“No, no,” Alexei laughed. “Really.”

Kent punched his arm playfully. “Just tell me about the girl, dork.”

But Kent was smiling, so Alexei didn’t feel too bad. Kent had a nice smile, Alexei thought. But Alexei couldn’t tell if this was a real smile or a camera smile. He wanted to know the difference between the two.

“Lardo was nice, funny. She not idolize me like some of the others.”

“She’s down to earth?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Kent leaned back in his seat, “Well, Tater, I think you’ve figured out who to take on your first one-on-one date.”  
...  
“I still don’t know why I’m here,” Kent said. He was in a bad mood. He stood with James in the sand about fifty feet away from Lardo and Alexei who walked hand and hand down the beach. Lardo was in a loose black beach dress, and Alexei wore ridiculous yellow swim trunks and a Falconers hat. 

The L.A. sun beat down on all of them, and Kent felt sweaty and gross. 

“You’re here because apparently you’re the only one who can get that guy to chill out.”

Kent crossed his arms and watched Alexei and Lardo walk further down the beach as the camera men hovered all around them. 

“It’s not like I’m always going to be around when you want to do his interviews.”

“Like hell you will.”

“James.”

“Kent.”

He frowned. “He’ll get used to the camera. It was his first day doing any real interviews.”

“Look,” James said. “We’ve already test run it with a couple audiences, and they reacted really well to your banter. We’re thinking about giving you more screen time if it’ll up viewership.”

Kent didn’t want more screen time. He liked the fact that he only stepped in to narrate the ‘on this episode on The Bachelor’ segments and the rose ceremony at the end of each episode. It was an easy job and it paid a ridiculous amount of money. If James had said this exact sentiment a few years ago, Kent might have jumped at the chance or at least seriously considered it. But it was a different now.

Because this season the bachelor was Alexei Mashkov, and no Kent did not have a crush on him. But yes if Kent had to continue to have fun little conversations with him in which Alexei teased him and blushed (blushing? What the fuck was Kent supposed to do with that?), then yes Kent might start to develop an inadvisable crush.

And then it would just super suck when he’d have to talk to Alexei about the girls that Alexei was dating and kissing and eventually proposing to one of them. Yeah, that would suck to say the least.

“I don’t want to do it.”

“Too bad. You’re contract isn’t up for another three years, so you’ll do what we want.”

Kent hadn’t been kidding when he’d told Alexei that James was a dick.

“Fine, but I won’t be happy about it.”

James rolled his eyes. Kent looked back at Alexei and Lardo. They’d stopped walking, so that they stood ankle deep in the water facing each other. Alexei held both of Lardo’s hands. Kent tried not to think about the fact that Alexei looked stupid good with his shirt off. Lardo leaned up and kissed Alexei on the cheek.

As if he’d felt Kent’s eyes on him, Alexei looked back at Kent and smiled. Kent raised his hand and waved. He didn’t feel much like smiling at the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple things:
> 
> I’m taking some artistic liberties about how The Bachelor works in this universe because I’m not one hundred percent certain how it works in this world lol even though I’ve been watching Colton’s season. Anyway, we’re just going to go with it.
> 
> It’s really weird writing Lardo as a love interest for Alexei. Like super weird. 
> 
> And, yes, Alexei wearing yellow swim trunks is reminiscent of that one time Harry Styles wore yellow swim trunks. Ugh, go google it. It’s great.
> 
> Hmm. I think that’s all I need to say. Hope y’all liked this update!


	3. group date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has left kudos or written a comment. I’ve been feeling a little sad lately and this fic and y’all’s kind responses to it has been a bright spot. So thank you! 
> 
> Now here’s chapter three. Enjoy!

Alexei and Lardo walked hand and hand down the beach. It was Alexei’s first one-on-one with a girl, and he thought it was going pretty good even if the cameras still did freak him out a bit. Alexei really liked Lardo. She was small and funny in a sort of dry way that he didn’t immediately pick up on. They talked about hockey and then moved into talking about Lardo’s ambitions as an artist.

“Enough about me,” she said. “What about you? How have you been with all this?”

She gestured around at all the cameras. Alexei grimaced. 

“Am not liking them all that much, but Kent is helping me get comfortable with them.”

He resisted the urge not to look over at where Kent and James stood some fifty feet away. Before they’d started filming James had pulled him aside and said it messed with the footage when he did that too much, so he should probably stop. Alexei didn’t understand. One second the producers were telling him they liked his chemistry with Kent during the filming of his interviews and the next second they were telling him not to look at Kent. 

Lardo raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s nice of Kent to be so helpful. We got the impression from past seasons that he’s kind of a jerk when not on camera.”

“We?”

“Oh, my team. We watch it every Monday night after practice. The boys are super stoked I’m on this season.”

“Sounds like it was good team bonding.”

Lardo laughed and hip checked him. “It was. Maybe if I make it to hometowns you can meet some of them.”

“Maybe,” Alexei winked. He hoped Lardo would still be around for hometowns. 

Alexei stopped them, so they faced each other. The water slowly lapped at their bare feet. “I really like you, Lardo.”

Lardo grinned, “I really like you too.”

She leaned up and kissed Alexei high on the cheek. When she pulled away, she looked over his shoulder. “Looks like your boy is here today too.” 

Lardo didn’t sound annoyed, so Alexei turned around and saw Kent in his same spot next to James. He wore one of his snapbacks and ray ban sunglasses. Alexei smiled at him. He couldn’t wait to tell him later all about his one-on-one date.  
…

Alexei picked the Los Angeles Kings practice rink as the location for his first group date, and Kent watched as he skated with Caroline and then Marina and then Sydney and then Jess and then Lardo and then Shelby. Caroline and Lardo both made him laugh and Jess even snuck in a quick peck on the lips that left Alexei blushing. 

Kent skated out to center ice and said, “Alright ladies and Alexei. Now that you’ve all had some time to warm up, you’ll be playing a little pick up game.”

The women coo-ed. 

“I call Mashkov,” Lardo said.

Kent said, “Tater can’t play or the teams will be uneven.”

Alexei grinned at Kent, “Unless you want to join. Show off those hockey skills.”

Kent shook his head. He couldn’t remember the last time he played a game of hockey—even one as casual as this—and the last thing he wanted was to embarrass himself in front of an NHL player.

“No...I don’t think—”

“Ahem!” 

They all looked over at where James and another producer, Hannah, stood behind the camera man. James made eye contact with Kent and then looked at Alexei and back again. Hannah looked warily between all three of them.

Kent sighed. This was his job. He did things like this all the time, sort of. 

“Okay, fine.”

Alexei whooped and the women cheered. Kent resisted the urge to roll his eyes and also go throw up. They split up into two groups with Lardo on Alexei’s team, and the women spread out onto the ice. Despite the girls on Kent’s team wanting as much time with Alexei as possible, they all agreed it would be better for Kent to do the face off. Kent squared off in front of Alexei, but before James dropped the puck Kent added, “Oh and whichever team wins gets extra time with Alexei tonight.”

Alexei, as well as the women, barely had time to take in what Kent said before James dropped the puck. Apparently, the new information had distracted Alexei because Kent won the face off.

He took off towards his goal as Alexei chased after him, laughing.

It was like the old him—the one who still played hockey, who was good at hockey and was unafraid because of it—came out again. There was a new rush of adrenaline in him that he told himself had nothing to do with the sound of Alexei’s laugh.

Kent passed to Marina who passed to Shelby who got intercepted by Alexei. Kent sped off after him and managed to steal the puck back. He didn’t waste time with passing it to anyone, just drove straight for the goal. He scored and the girls on his team screamed and hugged him.

Alexei was looking at him like he couldn’t quite figure something out.

“Don’t go easy on us, Tater.”

“Beginner’s luck.”

Kent laughed. 

It turned out that it wasn’t beginner’s luck. The game ended 3-2 with Kent’s team winning. Kent and Alexei did most of the major work, but all the women tried their best. Lardo, as it turned out, proved to be a drawback and not an asset. He thought she was probably the worst one on the ice.

“Alright,” Kent said to the group. “That means my team gets extra time with Alexei later on. Ladies, I think you can now go get ready for tonight. Alexei will see you back at the mansion.”

...

Alexei really enjoyed this group date. He hugged the women goodbye and waved as they left to get ready for the evening. He turned back to the ice and watched as Kent did a few slow laps around the rink. 

Alexei skated over to him. “Does this mean I get extra time with you, too?”

Kent didn’t look at him but shook his head down at the ice. 

“I don’t think I was included in that reward.”

Alexei watched him for another moment as he continued past him and moved along the ice. There was a gracefulness to the way he skated that combined with his performance during the game told Alexei he had very much undersold his abilities when they’d first talked about hockey.

“How come you not tell me you so good?”

“I did tell you, but you just laughed.”

“No, you make me think you play when younger just for fun.”

“I did.”

Kent still wasn’t looking at him.

“You play for more than just fun I think.”

Kent looked up at him and then over at where the producers stood in the stands. The camera men had gone back with the women to the hotel, so there was no one there to record them.

“I did play,” Kent said slowly. “When I was younger. I was even in the Q, but—I don’t know I decided not to try for the draft.”

Alexei shook his head. “Makes no sense you faster than me. You faster than most people I play with and you score all three points in game, which by the way I’m not thinking is very fair to the rest of your team. Why not do draft?”

Kent looked back over at the producers and then at Alexei.

“I was in love with one of my teammates.”

Alexei almost tripped over his skates. “Wha—”

Kent shrugged. There was a dark blush rising on his cheeks. “Anyway, I thought it was a better idea, all things considered, to avoid the homophobia of professional sports.”

If before Alexei had been frustrated at seeing Kent’s talent wasted on some silly pick up game, Alexei felt actual anger now. 

“Your teammate—he do something—”

“No, no. He’s a really nice guy actually,” Kent frowned and shook his head. It didn’t seem like Kent was fully with Alexei in that moment, like maybe he’d gone back to a different place and time. Alexei wished he would just look at him for a second. “But I mean it’s the whole culture of it. I don’t know. I shouldn’t have even brought it up to you.”

“No,” Alexei said quickly. “Is okay. I know what you are meaning. Is your job here better?”

Kent looked at him. “Could we maybe talk about something else?”

Alexei nodded but that felt stupidly inadequate, so he skated over to Kent and wrapped him up in big bear hug. Kent, after a faction of a second, hugged him back. “Well at least now you can say you beat NHL player.”

“Only a retired NHL player. It’s no big deal.”

Kent took off towards the other side of the rink.

“Are you making fun of me, Kent Parson?”

But he only laughed, leaving Alexei no choice but to chase after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things I actually know very little about: 1. How actual hockey is played 2. How The Bachelor works AND YET here I am. 
> 
> Hope y’all liked this chapter! Next up: Alexei, Kent, and the girls are going to Switzerland!


	4. Zurich, Switzerland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you to everyone who is keeping up to this fic and commenting and leaving kudos. I love you, thank you.

The producers in their infinite wisdom decided a group date to a club in Switzerland was a good idea. And because James was a dick, they made Kent go too. It was a large building with two floors worth of dancing space and bars. They’d just arrived five minutes earlier, so Alexei was still at a table surrounded by the six women who’d come with them.

Kent leaned against the bar and sipped his beer. At the moment, he really hated beer. He really hated just about everything, including Alexei who sat with his arms wrapped around the two nearest girls. He was grinning at one of them, and Kent watched as he dipped his head low and whispered something into her ear. 

Kent chugged the rest of his beer and flagged the bartender down to order another. He also sent shots of vodka over to Alexei’s table. He watched someone bring it over to them, and Alexei caught his eye and grinned. 

He hated how handsome Alexei was just in a t-shirt and jeans. He hated that look he gave him when their eyes met across the room. Bright and easy. 

One of the women tugged at Alexei’s hand, and Kent watched as Alexei threw a shot back and then followed her out to the dance floor. The other women looked on with jealousy, and Kent realized he probably had the same look on his own face. 

He scanned the crowd. At the other end of the bar, there was a tall, dark haired man looking at him. Without taking his eyes off him, the man leaned over and said something to the bartender. Kent felt his eyes wander back to Alexei. The woman and him were now grinding on the dance floor and making out. 

It was gross.

Not for the first time, Kent wondered who the fuck thought this was a good idea for a group date. Or, a good idea for any sort of date. Clubs like this weren’t for people in relationships.

Kent felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see the bartender slide a shot towards him. He nodded towards the man from before. Kent took the shot. It was something sweet. It was decidedly better than beer. 

He made his way over to the man and leaned against the bar. “Salut. Merci pour le verre.”

The man smirked. “You speak French well, but if it’s easier we can speak in English.”

“I think you’re being nice. I think you think my French is shit.”

The man laughed, “What’s your name?”

It had been a long time since Kent had done something like this. He did a one second scan of the club, of the camera getting footage of Alexei whose hands were now on a new woman’s ass. It seemed he’d gotten over his camera shyness. 

Kent looked back at the man and wondered if it was possible that he really didn’t know who he was. “Tell me yours first.”

“Etienne.” 

“Etienne?”

“Oui.”

“I’ve decided that’s a really sexy name, Etienne. And I think we should go upstairs to dance.”

“No name?”

“No name. Just some fun.”

Etienne smiled and took Kent’s hand, leading him upstairs.

…

The group date was over and Alexei was back in his room that overlooked the river. Alone. He felt weird. He was never really the type to get drunk and kiss and grope random girls even at the peak of his hockey career and yet he had done that with all six of the women on this group date.

He felt gross. He felt lonely. He didn’t know how that could be possible when he spent everyday with so many people.

He showered, and he thought of Kent. He thought of watching Kent being led up the stairs of the club by a handsome man. He didn’t like the feeling that had shot through him at the sight of it.

He got out of the shower, put on boxers, and laid down on the bed. He fiddled with his phone. He didn’t see Kent for the rest of the night, even though he was supposed to be around for the whole group date. He wondered what Kent and the man had done upstairs although it wasn’t hard to guess. He wondered if they were still together.

Without warning, his phone began to ring. Kent’s name flashed across the screen. Alexei sat up.

“Hello.”

“Hi,” it was quiet. 

“Where are you? You okay?”

A thousand horrible scenarios ran through Alexei’s head. 

“What? Yes, I’m fine. I’m on the roof.”

Alexei stood up. “Why roof?”

“There’s a pool up here. Geez, Tater, are you okay? You sound frantic.”

Alexei realized that he was half way in a pair of pants. 

“Am fine.”

You scared me, he didn’t say.

“Why you call?”

Kent didn’t say anything at first. “You should come up to the pool, so I can hear about your night.”

…

Kent’s night was this: Dancing with Etienne, kissing Etienne, thinking about what it would be like to walk out hand and hand with Etienne because he could. Thinking about what it would be like to sleep with Etienne and then to wake up in Etienne’s bed.

Kent’s night was this: Remembering what it would actually feel like to wake up in a stranger’s bed—not a sweet intimacy, but a loneliness he already felt enough as it was.

Kent’s night was this: He didn’t go home with Etienne. He went up to the pool at the hotel and lay on one of the lounge chairs. He listened to the sounds of Zurich at night time. Not as loud as New York City or Las Vegas but loud enough and alive. 

Kent’s night was this: He called Alexei.

Kent’s night was this: Alexei arrived to the pool only a few minutes later, smiling at him. 

It was this: Them stripping down to their boxers. Kent pushing Alexei into the pool. Alexei popping back up, wet and grinning, pushing his dark hair out of his face. 

Kent’s night was this: Them racing the length of the pool, and Kent winning despite Alexei’s wingspan. Alexei saying, “You be professional swimmer too.” Kent splashing him. There was a wrestling fight. There was another race.

It was this: Kent leaning against the edge of the pool. Alexei arms on either side of him.

It was Alexei saying quietly “Call me Alyosha. Friends call me Alyosha.”

It was him feeling a sting at the word ‘friend.’

It was Alexei’s laugh when he repeated the name back to him and Alexei saying, “You get better at pronouncing with practice.”

It was Alexei swimming away before Kent could splash him for the remark, and it was Alexei making that face, soft and genuine and too true given the circumstances, as he turned back to look at Kent. “Come on, I race you again.”

They stayed out there the whole night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone likes this new chapter!


	5. hometowns - samwell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so in case it isn’t clear within the actual chapter: Alexei retired the year before Jack joined the Falcs, so he retired kind of young but it was due to an injury so what are ya gonna do. He’s been through enough physical therapy to be able to play recreationally, but he’ll never play professionally again. Hopefully that makes sense. 
> 
> As always, thank you for all the love.

After Switzerland they went to France and then Greece and then finally they came back to the States for hometowns. In each place Alexei had to slowly eliminate the women in the group until they were down to just ten. He hated the rose ceremony because sometimes the women cried when he sent them home. He didn’t like it when people were upset, and he was beginning to think he was a huge asshole for even coming on this show in the first place. He’d never thought of himself as a heartbreaker before this. 

He visited a few different places in the states of the women who were left and met their families. In each place, Kent followed and met the families too. The families were all nice, but Alexei felt Kent did a better job of charming all of them with his cocky smile and compliments than Alexei did. He was beginning to panic. He’d thought by the time it got down to hometowns and there were only ten women left that he’d have a pretty good idea of who he might marry.

But he had absolutely no idea who he was going to propose to at the end. He thought he probably got along with Lardo the best, but he still felt like Lardo was sort of holding back something from him. He definitely had the best chemistry with Marina. He found her incredibly sexy—tall and blonde. She was fun to be around, but he didn’t feel like they really had an emotional connection yet. It was purely physical.

He wished he could talk to Kent more about it. Everytime they weren’t filming Alexei’s interview scenes Kent didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about the women, but there was only so much Alexei was comfortable saying on camera when he knew the women would hear it once the show premiered.

They flew to Boston and from there they took a train to a little college town called Samwell. It was Lardo’s hometown. “Well, it’s not actually my hometown, but I figured you’d enjoy meeting my hockey bros too. Mom and Dad are going to stop in for dinner one night,” Lardo had told him. 

So it wasn’t exactly like the others where Alexei had to spend two whole days trying to impress an entire family. Instead, he was just expected to impress an entire college hockey team.

Beside him on the train, Kent’s leg bounced up and down.

“Okay?” he asked.

Kent looked at him. “Yeah, yeah. Just excited to get there and sleep.”

The constant traveling was getting a little exhausting, but Alexei was used to it from his days in the NHL. Alexei touched Kent’s shoulder. “Should sleep now. I wake you when we get there.”

Kent stared at him for so long Alexei actually ran through the words again to make sure he hadn’t accidentally said something wrong. He hadn’t though, so he said, “You falling asleep with your eyes open.”

Kent shook his head. “Yeah, I think you’re right. I’m going to try to nap.”

Kent curled into himself a little and faced the window. Alexei struck up a quiet conversation with Lardo, who was making a valiant effort at explaining the team to him. All their names jumbled together, and it only became more confusing when they arrived at the house. Or, the Haus as Lardo told him to call it. 

They were all crammed into the kitchen—Alexei, Lardo, Kent, James, the camera crew, and what seemed like most of the team. Lardo pointed at each one and said in turn, “Nursey, Chowder, Dex.”

Alexei nodded his head after each one. 

“And Bitty. Then all the rest aren’t actually on the team anymore because they’ve graduated. Holster, Ransom, Jack...and Shitty.”

“Shitty?” Alexei looked down at Lardo. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “Is good nickname.”

Everyone laughed even though Alexei wasn’t sure it warranted such a strong response. He figured they were probably as nervous as him. 

“And you,” Alexei pointed at the tall dark haired man whom Lardo called Jack. “I know you. You join Falconers after I leave.”

“Yes, he did!” The one who Alexei thought was called Bitty said. “It’s too bad you weren’t there at the same time. It would have give Lardo a head start.”

Alexei laughed, “She’s doing alright on her own I think.”

He winked at Lardo, and she rolled her eyes, but he knew Lardo well enough now to know it was good natured. He looked over at Kent who was a little pale and then back at Jack. “We should all do a pick up game.”

He gestured to Kent, “But I want Kent on my team.”

The whole room turned their eyes to Kent. “He already beat me. Time to see if he can beat a current NHL player.”

Alexei expected that this would make Kent scoff or laugh, but Kent just remained pale, eyes slightly wide. Alexei couldn’t understand it. 

Bitty clapped his hands together. “Well, I think that’s a good idea. I know pretty much everyone was hoping we could get some ice time with you. Why doesn’t everyone get settled in and meet at the rink in an hour? Then when we get back we can all have pie. Lardo didn’t tell me, Alexei, what is your favorite kind?”

“Oh, uh, blueberry, probably.”

There was an awkward pause in which Alexei still expected Kent to say one of his charming one liners, but when he didn’t Alexei cleared his throat, feeling weirdly embarrassed. “Plan sounds good.”

Bitty smiled and started ushering people out of the room.

Lardo turned to him, “Do you want a tour of the Haus?”

“What? Oh, yes, give me one moment.”

He moved away from Lardo and caught Kent by the elbow as he tried to make his way out of the kitchen. They moved over towards the fridge. Kent still wasn’t saying anything, but his eyes were trained on Alexei’s hand on his elbow. Alexei pulled his hand away, and Kent’s eyes flickered up to his own.

“What is it?”

Alexei couldn’t believe it. “What is it? I should be asking you that question.”

Kent shrugged, eyes darting toward the other side of the kitchen where Bitty and Jack stood close together. Alexei felt a small smile slip onto his face. “You’re not actually nervous around an NHL player are you?”

“What? No, I’m not—Look, it’s nothing I just—” 

Alexei’s smile disappeared again. “Are you still that tired?”

He was trying to figure out when he fell out of sync with Kent. They were fine during the other hometown visits, and he even seemed fine, albeit tired, on the train here. It was making him nervous. Usually Kent’s calm presence was what made Alexei feel okay in front of all the cameras.

“Yeah, you know I think that’s it. I think I just need to rest a little more before we start skating.”

Before Alexei could say anything, Kent’s eyes were back on Jack as he said, “Hey, would you mind showing me a place I could take a quick power nap?”

Jack and Bitty exchanged a look, and then Jack moved wordlessly with Kent out of the room. 

Alexei couldn't follow them because Bitty put him in a chair at the kitchen table and placed a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of him. But he tracked them with his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I promise the next chapter will explain what the hell is going on with Kent...but I think y’all can already guess. Aha. Anyway, I’m already at work on it so hopefully it’ll be out to y’all soon.


	6. Jack’s room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBH this chapter was really hard to write, but I also really wanted y’all to have it so I hope y’all like it! 
> 
> Let me know what you think & thanks for all the love on this fic.

“Please don’t tell him.”

Kent and Jack were standing in Jack’s old room, which was now covered entirely in Sharks merch, and Kent was trying very hard not to think about the last time he was in this room. The Kent who had showed up at Jack’s school years ago to beg Jack to take him back seemed like a completely different person. They were different people now. They were both different people now. He had to keep repeating it in his head over the loud beat of his heart.

“What are you talking about, Ken–”

“I know we’re better now.”

Kent did know this. They’d healed their relationship that had been damaged in a hundred different ways since the Q, but that didn’t mean they were friends. That didn’t mean Jack wouldn’t tell Alexei everything.

“I just—I know we’re good now. And I’m glad about that, but please don’t tell him you know me.”

Jack blinked at him. “Who are you talking about?”

Kent resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Leave it to Jack to not follow his line of thought. “Alexei. Don’t tell Alexei.”

Jack shook his head, “Why?”

“Because—”

Because he had a stupid crush on Alexei and Kent couldn’t see how him having a stupid crush on Jack at one point in his life could be a good thing for Alexei to know. It would open up questions, and it would reveal the ugly parts of Kent. The parts that were obsessive and needy and insecure. The parts that Kent was desperately ashamed of. 

Jack shook his head. “I don’t need to know the reason, Kenny, if you don’t want him to know I won’t mention it. But you can talk to me about it if you want.”

It was something neither of them would have said when they were teenagers. Talking about things other than hockey wasn’t something they had been capable of even if it was something they’d both needed more than anything. 

Kent released a breath. “Thanks, Jack.”

Without either of them saying anything else, they crossed the room and embraced each other. It felt like hugging an old friend, which he realized, despite everything, Jack was his oldest friend. As they began to pull away, Kent said, “Really, thank you for not mentioning anything to Alexei. Maybe later tonight we can catch up.”

There was a clatter out in the hallway, and Jack’s door opened. On the other side stood Lardo and Alexei, a plate of cookies on the floor. Jack and Kent pulled away from one another completely. Lardo gave a short laugh in what Kent guessed was an effort to break the tension. Kent couldn’t bring himself to look at Alexei because he knew, horrified, that Alexei had heard all of that.

Jack cleared his throat and said in his usual voice, “Well, Kent, you can nap here if you’d like. I’ll be downstairs with Bittle if you need anything.”

Kent didn’t move, but Jack walked out of the room, grabbed Lardo’s hand, and dragged her away. It would have been almost funny—Jack leaving Kent to figure out his own awkward mess—if it wasn’t for the fact that now Kent had to figure out said awkward mess.

“Here,” Kent moved towards the floor to pick up the plate and cookies. 

Alexei bent down, too. “I’ll get it—”

“It’s okay I’ve got it.”

“I’m the one who dropped it.”

There was a scrabble as they both tried to pick up the mess before the other could. After a moment, Alexei gave up, removing his hands from the fray. Kent focused on picking up the last of the cookies. He still didn’t look at Alexei.

“Kent, what you not want me to know?”

Finally, Kent thought he’d exhausted looking everywhere else, so he dragged his eyes up to look at Alexei’s hurt brown ones. Kent sighed, “Jack and I used to know each other.”

“Yes, I guess that. Door open and you’re wrapped up in him.”

Kent made a face, “We were barely still hugging.”

Alexei scowled. Kent stood up and put the plate on the nearby desk. “We played in the Q together, okay? And now Jack’s in the NHL and I’m here,” he gestured around them. “Hosting a stupid dating show.”

Alexei looked hurt, “You think this is all stupid.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Kent tried to backtrack.

“You think I’m stupid for being on show.”

“No, I’m just—” he couldn’t contain the groan that escaped him as he flopped down on the bed. “That’s not what I meant.”

He felt a little unhinged. Alexei and Jack in the same place. Lardo who Alexei was supposed to be falling in love with here too. That man that Jack called Bittle who Kent was pretty sure was Jack’s boyfriend. And this after weeks of watching Alexei kiss and date girl after girl. It felt impossible to sort out all that he was feeling.

And maybe that was the real problem with Kent. He felt too much, and he had no idea what to do with all those feelings. Usually, like with Jack when they were younger, it meant he exploded on whoever was nearest to him and usually that meant it was the people he cared about the most. But he didn’t want it to be like that with Alexei.

He looked up at the ceiling, “It just felt personal, okay?”

Alexei moved over to the bed, sitting near Kent. “We are friends, yes?”

Kent closed his eyes briefly. “Yes.”

“Then you can tell me personal things. I tell you everything all the time.”

“You have to do that. You won’t tell the camera anything otherwise.”

Alexei shifted closer to him on the bed. “Would tell you anyway.”

Kent took a steadying breath. Alexei said, “I think you not want me to know because you’re upset. What happen with Jack?”

“You haven’t guessed?”

“I guessed,” Alexei said. “Can guess a lot of things about you, Kent Parson. But that’s not fair.”

Kent rubbed his face. When he looked back, Alexei was still watching him calmly. It was infuriating. Alexei just caught Kent keeping secrets from him, but he wasn’t angry or throwing a fit. He was just waiting for Kent to explain. Kent didn’t want to explain. He wanted to get in a fight so that it didn’t hurt so much at the end of this when Alexei got engaged to someone else.

“You say he not do anything to you,” Alexei said quietly. “But then why you so sad? Куда ушел ваш солнечный свет?”

Kent didn’t bother to ask what it meant. He knew it was probably something unfailingly kind.

“Yes,” Kent said. “He was the teammate...I was in love with.”

“You still love him?”

“No.” Kent was sure of that. 

“Why you upset now?”

“Alyosha,” Kent said. It was barely audible. “Do we have to do this?”

It was late afternoon, and the room was in shadows. It would be so easy to circle his hand around Alexei’s wrist and pull him down onto the bed beside him. Once he had him there, Kent didn’t know what he would do, but it was a nice, distant sort of thought. 

“You worry me, Kent Parson.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry. Just talk to me.”

They were going in circles. Kent closed his eyes. “I should rest. I think all this traveling is taking its toll on me.”

“Kent, you go to sleep right now and I go downstairs. Get Jack to tell me everything.”

“No,” Kent sat up. “Don’t. Listen, it’s nothing.”

Alexei’s frustrated expression didn’t change, but he opened his mouth to speak.

“No, listen,” Kent grabbed Alexei’s hand—it wasn’t until after he was holding it that he really realized what he’d done—and lied. “I always get like this when we get this far into filming. And seeing Jack just reminded me of a time when I wasn’t my best self and that made me feel worse, okay? But don’t go talk to Jack. That’s exactly why I didn’t want him mentioning that we knew each other. I knew you’d want to meddle and talk to me about it, and that would make everything worse.”

“Okay,” Alexei touched Kent’s elbow and guided them so they both lay on the bed. “Okay. Am sorry. Don’t have to explain. Just think you are hurting and want to help.”

Kent still had Alexei’s hand in his. He made no effort to change that but also held his hand as loosely as possible so that Alexei could pull away if he wanted to. Kent kind of hoped he would—that would squash any last remaining hope he had that it wasn’t delusional to hold onto this crush. 

Alexei did not pull away, but neither did he come any closer. “We sleep,” he said. “Need you at best to play hockey.”

“Shouldn’t you go find Lardo.”

“I have plenty of time to see Lardo later. Forget about stupid TV show, just sleep.”

Kent studied his face. It was handsome and totally lacking in meanness. Kent closed his eyes and tried to sleep. It didn’t come at once but slowly with Alexei by his side it did. The last thing he noticed before he fell asleep was the pad of Alexei’s thumb moving in circles over the back of Kent’s hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really hitting all the Alexei/Kent tropes I feel like. Yes, by the time this fic is done I’ll probably have squeezed all of them in there. 
> 
> I’m slightly concerned that y’all might be confused as to where Kent and Jack stand or just how their backstory has changed slightly for the sake of this fic. Please let me know if you are and I’ll be sure to clarify! Basically everything in the comic happened the same way here, except Kent had already decided earlier in the Q that he wasn’t going to go to the draft. After that first visit to Samwell, Kent and Jack slowly mended their relationship to where they could be civil and maybe even sort of friends although they don’t talk often. 
> 
> Oh, and the Russian Alexei speaks in this chapter is, hopefully, according to google translate “where did your sunshine go?”
> 
> Finally, did y’all watch that last episode of the Bachelor?? Omg, I can’t believe Cassie did that to Colton. I’m so sad for him, but at least we finally got to see why he jumped the fence!!! I can’t wait to watch the girls tell all episode next.


	7. the kegster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’M BACK. Sorry for the long wait. Hope this chapter makes up for it.

And that would make everything worse.

That’s what Kent had said to him. Him, Alexei, trying to—to be a friend to Kent would make everything worse. It hurt Alexei, and he thought Kent Parson was the most confusing man he’d ever met. He tried not to show it though. He laid on the bed beside him. When he realized they were still holding hands, he pulled away. But he stayed on the bed, facing him. He had the the lightest eyelashes Alexei had ever seen, and he had freckles that dusted his nose and tops of his cheeks. Alexei had noticed both of these things once before—in the pool in Zurich—but they were even more startling in the late afternoon sunlight. 

A knock came at the door, and Lardo said they were headed over to the rink.

Alexei woke up Kent, and they all made there way to the rink. Kent beside James and Alexei and Lardo with the cameras trailing in front of them to catch all of their conversation. 

They split up into teams. Lardo was the ref, and she unfairly favored Alexei team. Everytime she made a call, the other team boo-ed loudly, but Alexei always shot her a grin. Kent, who was lightening when they’d played a pick up game with the women only weeks ago, kept up with everyone, but it wasn’t the same electricity as before except—Except when he and Jack went for the puck at the same time.

That wasn’t like anything he’d seen with Kent. Kent and Jack. It was enough to stop the rest of them where they were until it was only the scraping of Jack and Kent’s skates and the sound of the puck on the ice. 

Kent took the puck from Jack, turned on the spot, and made a go for the other end of the rink where his net and Chowder were stationed. Jack caught up and tried to steal it back, but Kent was too quick. He shot fast, and the puck went flying past Chowder.

There was a pause. Chowder ripped off his mask and said, “That was so cool!!!”

Kent ducked his head and smiled. The team rushed over to him, and Alexei, who was on his team, hugged him. 

“With that,” Lardo said. “I’m going to say Kent’s team wins.”

Alexei skated over to her and hugged her too. 

“Nice shot,” Jack said.

Alexei watched as Kent smiled again.

…

It was a party. Or rather a Kegster as the man named Shitty called it as he filled a tub with every liquid he could find. Yeah, a tub. Kent was pretty drunk, but he was pretty sure it was a tub. 

The cameras were turned towards Lardo and Alexei who were playing beer pong. The place was packed. Everyone there was either trying to steal a look at Alexei, Kent, or Jack. Kent had already taken half a dozen selfies. 

A cheer erupted from the beer pong table as Lardo sunk the last ball, and Alexei raised the red solo cup to his mouth, grinning. Kent wandered off to the porch and took another sip of the drink in his hand. When he’d woken up from his nap earlier, he’d decided he was going to stop pining over Alexei Mashkov. The first step in doing that was to avoid Alexei whenever he could. Like when he was flirting with pretty beer pong champs, for example. 

Two people came out onto the front porch, and Kent realized it was Lardo and that man, Shitty. 

“Bruh,” Shitty said. He was smiling, but there was something weird about his voice. Kent was too drunk to fully understand the tone shift. “He seems like a good guy.”

“He is,” Lardo said.

There were enough people milling around that they didn’t notice Kent standing off to the side.

“He’s bad at beer pong though.”

Lardo laughed, “Yeah, he is, but good at hockey.”

Shitty tapped his foot against the side of the porch. “I’m glad things are working out then.”

“Yeah…” Lardo said. “But I miss you.”

“The boys all miss you too.”

“I know,” Lardo shook her head. “But I miss you.”

“I—”

The pair made eye contact. Kent had to look away from them because he understood now—Lardo’s hesitation at introducing Shitty earlier in the day, the way she always talked about the team, the way Alexei and Lardo were friends but never really seemed to get past that.

He thought of Alexei and wish he would look at Kent the way Lardo looked at Shitty. But that was stupid. He’d already decided he needed to get over this crush.

“I should get back inside,” Shitty finally said. 

Lardo bit her lip and said, “Okay.” 

Kent watched her watch Shitty enter the Haus again. She turned, saw him, and froze.

Before she could do anything, Kent said, “I won’t say anything.”

Lardo blinked and looked in the direction that Shitty had just gone.

“Thanks. I won’t say anything, either.”

She walked off the front porch and circled around to the back of the Haus. Kent took another sip of his drink and ignored the fact that he knew exactly what she meant by that. 

…

Alexei was having a great time. He’d never been to a college party before, but as it turned out they were a lot of fun. He couldn’t remember how many cups of that tub juice he’d had and before that he’d had four—no six—beers. He was a little stumbly, but a better dancer than he remembered. 

Holster and Ransom—he was pretty sure those were the old D-men’s names—whooped and hollered as Alexei bounced around on the coffee table. He wasn’t sure where Lardo had gone, and it had been a while since he’d seen Kent. But for the moment he didn’t care. The filming crew was gone for the night, and he felt like for the first time in weeks he could be himself. Or, as much of himself as he could be when he was drunk and fifty college students had their phone cameras pointed at him. 

Whatever. It was fine.

He shimmied to the beat of the song. There was a creak. A crack. And the coffee table finally gave way underneath him. He fell to the ground, catching Holster’s elbow to the eye as he went. 

“Oh my god, oh my god, are you okay?” Ransom asked. Or was that Holster. He felt a little queasy, and his eye hurt. 

“Oh, honey, let me help you.”

Bitty, the man with all the baked goods, reached down and pulled Alexei to his feet. 

“Yep,” Bitty said. “We better get ice on that before you get a black eye.”

Bitty led him out of the living room as Ransom and Holster called their apologies behind them. “You broke the Bachelor, man!”

In the kitchen, Bitty settled Alexei into a chair and went to the freezer. He came back with a frozen bag of mini pies.

“I was meaning to dethaw these anyway.” 

“Thank you,” Alexei said as he put the bag over his eye.

“No problem. With a whole hockey team, there’s always a couple injuries at these kinds of parties. I’m just surprised the coffee table lasted as long as it did.”

Alexei chuckled. “Sorry about that.”

Bitty smiled and waved him off, “I’m only mad you didn’t manage to break that horrible couch instead.”

Alexei didn’t really understand, but he smiled anyway. He started to stand up. “I’m should be going to tell Kent what happened. Production will need to know.” 

He thought his words were starting to slur a little at the end there, but it was hard to tell. 

“You stay right there, mister. I’m sure he’ll be by any minute anyway. It’s been like a full twenty minutes of y’all being apart. I'm sure he's missing you already.”

Alexei adjusted the frozen bag. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Bitty shrugged and his eyes widened a little. “Nothing, gosh, forget I said anything. You know—just because you’re the Bachelor and he works for the show. I didn’t mean—”

“Beety, ugh, can I call you B?” At this point, with his eyes going in and out of focus, the less syllables the better.

“Sure.”

“B, what are you meaning by what you said?”

Bitty eyes shifted around the kitchen and shrugged again. “Nothing. Just, you know, y’all sure do hang around each other a lot.”

Alexei blinked. “So.”

Bitty waved his hands around. “I don’t know what I’m saying.” 

He turned to start washing a dish in the sink. Alexei set the frozen bag of mini pies down and stood up. He felt like all of his organ flew up into his throat before settling down again. He stood there for a moment longer to make sure he wasn’t going to puke and then crossed over to Bitty.

“Kent and I are friends.”

“Yes! Yes, of course, y’all are really sweet...but…”

“What?” 

Maybe it was the alcohol or the skating earlier or the way it was so hard sometimes to get the truth out of Kent, but Alexei was so tired of people not being direct.

“What do you really think?”

Bitty sighed and stopped his scrubbing of the plate. He looked back at Alexei. “Jack and I used to be friends. It’s probably nothing. I’m meddling where I don’t need to be. It’s just...I’m very familiar with what it looks like for someone to pine after someone.”

Alexei decided to table this revelation about Jack and Bitty for the time being.

“You think...You think Kent is pining,” he touched both hands to his chest. “For me?”

Bitty shrugged. “It just seems like y’all really like each other. That’s all. But maybe that’s just me reading into things because I think I would cry if there was a gay Bachelor.”

Alexei took a step back, “Am not gay.”

“Oh,” Bitty gestured wildly. “Of course not. Seriously, I know how annoying it is when people presume things.” 

Alexei’s stomach turned over. “Kent does not...not like that.”

“Okay,” Bitty said gently. 

Alexei gripped the edge of the counter. This was ridiculous. Kent didn’t...of course not...His stomach twisted painfully. He felt like, like maybe—without further warning, he threw up into the sink. 

“Oh, honey,” Bitty said as he rubbed circles into his back.

In the morning, he remembered the vomit, he remembered something about a coffee table, and he remembered Bitty’s words about Kent Parson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Kent’s host voice* How much alcohol does it take to get a Russian hockey player drunk enough to make game changing realizations? Find out on THIS episode of The Bachelor. 
> 
> Lmao, Bitty showing up just to instigate shit! 
> 
> Last time I posted an update was before the final episode of Colton’s season, so I just want to say I hated how that season ended lolol. But, also, I’m really excited for Hannah’s season. What are y’all thinking?


	8. Buffalo

Kent knew there was going to be more trouble as soon as James told him Marina’s home town was Buffalo, New York. What were the fucking odds. 

They went to her house and Kent had to mediate between Marina’s family and Alexei because Marina’s family, although nice, didn’t exactly understand how their daughter could potentially have a fiance at the end of this TV show. By the look on Alexei’s face, it didn’t look like he could quite believe it either. But Kent didn’t say anything about it. 

The camera crew packed up and Alexei said goodbye to Marina and her family in what Kent thought was probably meant to be charming but mostly just came across awkward. Luckily, they were not doing a second day of shooting; and as Kent and Alexei stepped out onto Marina’s front porch, Kent thought he might just get out of this Buffalo trip without anything weird or personal happening.

And then James came up behind him, clapping Kent on the shoulder. “Doesn’t your mom live around here?”

Kent really hated James.

Hannah, another producer, rolled her eyes and said, “Leave Kent alone, James”

Kent really loved Hannah.

Alexei looked at Kent. The exhaustion from meeting yet another family slipped off his face, but he at least had the decency not to say anything until James was out of earshot and it was just them making their way to one of the vans that would take them to the hotel.

“Mamma Parson live here?”

“Clark, actually. She went back to her maiden name after she divorced my dad.”

“Oh,” Alexei said. “Am sorry if—”

“Don’t be sorry. They’re both much better people now than when they were together.”

“Your dad…”

It was a question. 

“He lives in the city. They’re good. I’m good. You know, Alexei, you’re more protective than anyone I’ve ever met.”

Alexei’s cheeks reddened under the dim street lights. 

“Am not mean—”

“I know. I know. It’s just how you are. It’s why the ladies love you, right?”

The grin Kent shot Alexei was met with a frown. Kent frowned back. 

“What’s up with y—”

“Hey,” James came back over to them. “We’ve just had the best idea.”

“Correction,” Hannah said, coming up next to James. She gestured to him, “He just came up with an idea that I strongly object to, but the other producers out weighed me.”

Nothing good could come from one of James’s ideas. It usually involves Kent being vulnerable in someway. 

“We’re gonna take a detour to your mom’s house, Kent, to get some footage of you and Alexei there for the YouTube channel. She can give him some advice, and you two can do that thing you do where you stare into each other’s eyes and bro-out, only this time it’ll be in your childhood bedroom.”

Hannah rolled her eyes and half turned her face away from Kent and Alexei to say to James, “God, you’re such a dick.”

“I’m ignoring you, Hannah.”

“My mom is not going to want a camera crew in her house.” 

“We’ve already called, and she said she’d be happy to have us,” James smiled. 

Kent was officially pissed. “Dude, you can’t just call my mom.”

“Look,” James said, making eye contact with all three of them in turn. “I’m getting really tired of always being made out to be the villain. I’m a producer for this show. That means I have to make decisions that will help with ratings, so we’re going to do this and you’re all going to stop with the complaining.”

…

Just like when Alexei visited the families of the women, the crew gave Alexei a bouquet of flowers to give to Kent’s mom. Alexei clutched them close to his chest. This was a stupid idea. He hated James and his endless pursuit for ratings. 

Except, he didn’t hate James. But only because his mamma had always told him not to hate anyone and he took what his mamma said seriously. 

It would be fine. This would all be fine if as he stood beside Kent on the front porch of his mom’s giant home, it didn’t feel like all the other times he had done this same thing with the women he was supposed to be dating. 

He felt nervous and eager to impress. He felt too tall and like he was about to be under scrutiny. Beneath all of that and despite telling himself that he felt nothing more for Kent than a friend—a really good friend, that was all—he felt a desperate need for Mamma Clark’s approval. 

He tugged at one of his sweater sleeves. 

Kent leaned against him, their arms touching, for just a moment. “Relax.”

Here was what was different between all those times with the women and now: Kent’s “relax” actually worked. He unclenched his fingers around the flowers. Or maybe it wasn’t Kent’s words but his touch. Or maybe it was both. Or maybe it was just Kent.

The cameras began rolling.

The door opened and a smiling woman greeted them.

Alexei smiled back.

Kent put a hand on Alexei’s shoulder. 

Whatever happened, it was going to be right.

…

The problem with Alexei Mashkov was one second he was humming while he made tea for Kent and his mom and the next second he was grimacing as their fingers touched as he passed Kent the mug. 

And it was unfair and hurtful and stupid really because who was Kent to Alexei but a passing person in Alexei and his future wife’s love story? Kent knew this was temporary and he was over pining and he was just trying to be a friend now. A good friend, but Alexei seemed unsteady around Kent all of a sudden and it made Kent feel unsteady, too. 

It was jarring because the whole point of James pushing Kent and Alexei together was that Kent made Alexei steady. 

And if Kent couldn’t do that then what was the point—

The awful thought occurred to Kent while Alexei sat beside his mom in the living room: Alexei must know. 

About this stupid crush. This very unfortunate, tragic crush of Kent’s. 

Even just the thought of Alexei knowing made Kent’s cheeks warm. But it didn’t completely add up to Kent because Alexei was kind. 

It was one of the first things immediately identifiable about him, and something that made Kent admire him so much. 

Alexei was kind, and it didn’t seem right that he would be acting like this just because he knew about Kent’s crush. 

But what other explanation was there. 

Kent’s mom placed her hand on Alexei’s and squeezed. 

Fuck. 

Kent went to find James.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back! Thank you so much for being patient dear readers. I hope this chapter was worth the wait <3 
> 
> I’m nervous about this chapter bc it took me so long to write and I’m posting it pretty much without properly proofreading it so pls show me some love & also bear with me. 
> 
> What have y’all thought of Hannah’s season of the bachelorette?? I love Tyler. I want Mike to be the next bachelor. Luke is toxic as hell. I can’t wait for her to dump Jed’s ass. And those are my hot takes. 
> 
> Lots of love & thank you so much for all the wonderful comments :)

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, I'm really doing this. I've had this au in my head for a while now, so it was only inevitable that once I truly got hooked on patater and the new season of The Bachelor that this would happen. I have a vague plan for this, so we'll see how it goes. 
> 
> Also, tell me you opinions on this season of The Bachelor. I wanna hear them.


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